


Would you, could you, maybe

by mayachain



Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: First Dates, M/M, Post-X3, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: Two men at a mall. It shouldn't be so hard to ask a question.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Damage - Extent Unknown](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614735) by [mayachain](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain). 



> Not new, but lifting it off LJ :)

_Do you want to go to the movies with me?_

 

It's such a simple phrase, mundane, everyday-like; ten words, nothing out of the ordinary between men who have known each other as long as they have, between friends. The people wandering past them in the mall, they would think nothing of it if they were to catch a snippet of the sentence on their way to the next store, if they were paying the two young men in front of the coffee shop any attention. They wouldn't know, would never be able to guess, wouldn't care how hard it is to vocalize the question, not because of the language or the words - but because of how hard it's been to even get here, to a random coffee shop in a random mall and no smoke, no destruction, no urge to call the authorities; how hard it has been to come this far.

 

_Do you want to go to the movies with me?_

 

It's not as if he hasn't asked the man in front of him this question before. He'd asked the first time within two months of being roommates, and the week after, and the week after. He'd asked Rogue the same question a year later, all blushes and stutter, had come back to be met with an eye-roll and something that was too undetectable then to be recognized as anger. He didn't ask once in the year after Boston; that year, neither he nor Rogue nor anyone else at the Mansion had time to think of movies in any way at all. He asked Kitty about a week after Alcatraz, Kitty who understood his need to get away, who smiled apologetically at Rogue and made him a welcome third wheel to herself and Piotr. He has plenty of practice asking, and he's not barging in blindly like six years ago; he knows what it means to make the suggestion to John now.

 

_Do you want to go to the movies with me?_

 

He has a vision of John laughing in his face, of greyish green eyes turning hard and malicious, the smaller man turning on his heels and walking away, but he knows the black-and-white world view that lies behind it just doesn't hold true anymore. They've both grown up, have risen above ideologies and ice and fire, blood and scars and years of hurt, as if it was nothing (ooh no, it was not nothing), met up and had a second cup of coffee as if the past five years could be forgotten, even had a slice of chocolate cake this time, as if forgiveness were a possibility. It's taken them long, so long, but they are here now and -

 

"D'you want to come to the movies with me?"

 

He blinks, once, twice, unsure at first if he has heard correctly. The man in front of him is tapping his foot, taking in his silence, glaring up at him defensively. He can see the denial already forming behind John's eyes - never mind, didn't mean it anyway, what would I want to go anywhere with you for? - but they are here now, men in their mid-twenties who have learned to judge the consequences of their decisions. They're not fumbling high school kids, they can say and mean what they want, they no longer need to do this, and at this moment, they are not pawns, not soldiers. Just two men (who happen to be mutants, and soldiers at times, if always more than pawns), two men in a mall, presently on their way to their future. So Bobby smiles, holds out a hand.

 

"You buy the coke, I buy the popcorn?"

 

-end-


End file.
